Ceramic thin-sections have been extensively used in archaeology to study the source of, and manufacturing methods used in the production of pottery, building materials, and other ceramic artefacts. The majority of this work has been undertaken by EH's own contractor, Dr David Williams, at the University of Southampton, but in the absence of a central register, it has proved difficult to access information about similar work carried out elsewhere, unless it had already been published. The City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit was therefore commissioned by EH to undertake a survey of ceramic thin-section collections in the UK. The principal objectives of the survey were to establish where collections existed, whether public access was allowed, and what they contained, and then to create a database of thin-sections from existing catalogues and publications. The survey and database are now complete. Forty-seven other bodies were found to hold ceramic thin-sections, all of which included material from sites in the UK. These collections contain over 20,000 samples ranging in date from the Neolithic to the post-medieval periods and information about these samples can be retrieved from the database. A report on the project, and a review of the main results of this work will be published in Internet Archaeology on the World Wide Web (URL:http://intarch.ac.uk) from where copies of the database can be obtained; summaries will also appear in relevant period journals and the publications of the ceramic interest groups.
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